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PNS Daily Newscast - May 24, 2018

Jared Kushner is finally granted his security clearance. Also on our nationwide rundown: A new lawsuit seeks the release of a gay man from ICE detention in Pennsylvania; and protecting an Arizona water source for millions near Phoenix.

Making Mother’s Day – By Making Adoption Affordable

PHOTO: Caroline Edgerton is among dozens of people receiving financial assistance from HelpUsAdopt.org. The grant enabled her to adopt Logan. Courtesy HelpUsAdopt.org

May 10, 2013

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – When a fertility clinic and all else fails, adoption can seem like the answer.

Except it's not in many cases.

Adoption is an expensive and lengthy process. It can take from $30-to-50,000 and two years or more.

That's where groups such as HelpUsAdopt.org come in. The national nonprofit has, in the last six years, helped build 73 families by awarding $570,000 dollars in adoption grants.

Becky Fawcett and her husband Kipp founded the group in response to their own experience.

"When I was struggling with infertility and miscarriages and wanted nothing more than to be a mother,” she recalls, “when Mother’s Day rolled around every year, it was one of the most painful days of the year."

Fawcett says the group is set apart from others by focusing on nondiscrimination, not defining what a family is, not charging applicants to apply and giving out the largest grants – up to $15,000.

Caroline Edgerton lost her husband and infant son in an accident in 2007. A grant from HelpUsAdopt.org helped her to close a financial gap and adopt a son, Logan.

"I was very fearful,” she says. “I didn't know if I would be able to afford it and do it on my own and make that dream happen. And now I know that there are resources and there's a lot of support out there that is available."

Fawcett, and a committee of five, select grantees, looking for people who are making every effort to pay for their adoption themselves but are coming up short. She says she spends most of the rest of her time looking for donors.

"We have about 800 people a year who apply with financial requests over $6 million dollars,” she says. “And we have $200,000 to give away this year."

Caroline Edgerton says the organization has remained in the lives of her and Logan.

"It wasn't just, 'Here's your grant, congratulations, move forward,'” she says. “Logan is now 15 months old and they've just touched our lives in such an amazing way."

Families helped by the group since 2007 include heterosexual married couples, single parents – male and female – and LGBT couples.